Trial by Fire

“I guess that’s all I need. Find a picture that matches this one.” Noah tossed the photo to Graham. “Out of eight hundred pages.”

“No problem.” He flipped a couple of pages, then pushed it back to Noah. “I’m sure you’ll find the match in a few days.”

Noah snorted. “Thanks for the encouragement.”

“That’s what I’m here for.” Graham slapped the table and stood. “Let me know if you need help.”

Noah rubbed his knee where it throbbed. He couldn’t afford to let this opportunity go. If he couldn’t fight fires the rest of his life, then he’d settle for determining cause.

Noah pushed back from the table, and paced the room. He locked his hands behind his head and concentrated on breathing. A steady in and out pattern. He knew the pattern in the water. Weary had asked an impossible question. Weary knew he couldn’t determine whether the gas existed at the site prior to the fire.

Yep, Weary was seeing where he’d run with this. He could waltz back into his office with a tale of woe to find himself forever cut out of investigative work. Definitely not what he wanted.

A woman walked past the window. Her head tilted away from him so he couldn’t see her features. But her dark-brown hair reminded him of Tricia Jamison. Once the thought took hold, he couldn’t shake it. He didn’t want to think of her. Couldn’t think of her. Needed to think about the picture. But all he saw in his mind’s eye was Tricia.

A woman he had misjudged and unjustly pushed away. A woman he needed to forgive.

And a woman he needed to ask to forgive him.

SIX

Wednesday

Judge Sinclair looked down her glasses at Tricia, then turned her attention to Earl Montgomery. “You’re here for the pretrial on this case, correct?”

“Yes, your honor.” Earl caressed his Kelly-green paisley tie. “My client, Andrew Parker, would like to ask for a continuance in this case.”

“Reasons?”

“We have been unable to locate a witness.”

“Who is this witness?”

A shadow flashed across Earl’s face. “A buddy from college my client spent time with the night of the alleged incident.”

Tricia tried not to smile too broadly. She knew the real reason—Linda had agreed to testify, and Andrew wanted more time to wear her back down. No way would she let that happen. “Your honor, this case has been pending before this court for months, more than enough time for Mr. Montgomery and his client to locate this witness. In fact, I don’t believe they have any witnesses listed on their evidentiary motion, so the witness would be excluded for that reason.” Tricia glanced at the summary sheet, and confirmed her memory. “This is no valid reason to delay the trial.”

“Other than Mr. Parker receiving a fair trial. His wife may be unwilling to press the charges.”

“Counsel?” The judge looked at Tricia.

“I talked with her yesterday and verified that she will testify at the trial. Even without her testimony, the state is ready to proceed.”

“Is Mrs. Parker here?”

“No. This is supposed to be a routine pretrial hearing.”

Judge Sinclair looked over her glasses at Tricia. “Then we’ll see her at trial. Defendant’s motion is denied. Thank you, counsel.”

Earl collected his files and turned toward the doors. “See you next week, little lady.”

Tricia fought the urge to go wash her hands. He made her feel so slimy.

The cell phone sang the theme to Monday Night Football from some deep recess of her purse. Caleb’s ring-tone. She grabbed the bag and scrabbled through it for the phone as she walked back to her office.

“Hey…” Huffing cut off her words.

“Can you come to my house?” Caleb’s words rushed on top of each other.

Sirens blared in the background, causing her to push the phone closer to her ear. “What?”

“How fast can you get to my house?”

“Half an hour.”

“See you then.” He hung up, and Tricia stared at the dead phone.

Before she could toss the phone back in the recesses of her bag, it rang again, this time the standard tone. She glanced at the display and stilled when she saw the caller was Dani Richards. Why would her brother’s girlfriend call? Especially on the heels of her brother?

She opened the phone. “Dani?”

“Has Caleb reached you?”

“Just did. What’s going on?”

“There’s trouble at his place.” Dani’s voice sounded muffled, as if she were rushing somewhere. A car door slammed.

“Are you sure?”

“Does your brother joke about things like this?”

“No.”

“Then we’ll meet you there.”

Tricia stood and grabbed her jacket. “All right.”

Snatching the Parker file and her purse from the desk, she left the office. She prayed that Caleb was okay as she reached her car and headed out of town down O Street.

Blood thundered in her ears as her heart raced. What-if scenarios ran through her mind. What if he’d injured himself? What if one of the men he’d investigated had come after him? What if…

Noah opened the door to his second-floor apartment, the autumn wind raking across him from the open patio door. He shivered as it penetrated his sweat-soaked shirt. Bicycling around Holmes Lake left him worn out, but in a good way. His body had cooperated with his mind and allowed him to exercise the way he’d wanted. His knee had even kept up.

He wiped his forearm across his forehead, swiping sweat. The exercise had succeeded in drawing off remnants of adrenaline from another shift. Now he could anticipate forty-eight hours off duty.